My external HD files & subfolders VANISHED but the capacity shows their disk use!

I have a Mac OS X Snow Leopard with my iTunes Music folder located on my external hard drive (Western Digital® My Book Essential Edition™). The other night I was listening to my music & everything was all good & fine--apart from two or three accidental USB disconnections (but I do that all the time) & the following morning absolutely NOTHING was in my iTunes folder--not iTunes Music, not Previous iTunes Libraries, NOTHING. Then I checked it it wasn't just iTunes that I had trouble with. Literally every single one of my subfolders were either completely missing or just had nothing in them & the only files remaining are only a few KB & can't even open. I literally lost everything & this makes ZERO sense--and I'm 100% certain that I didn't delete anything.

It's not in my Trash bin, not in the drive's Recycle Bin--nothing. Not even moved to Users:[My Name]:Music:iTunes on the local drive, either. Completely vanished. I'm pretty computer savvy & I can't even figure this out. I had about 2,348 songs on my iTunes/iPod, and now I can pretty much never sync again . . . some PLEASE help me b/c this is literally a worst dream come true. I cared more about my iTunes music than all my ex-girlfriends out together, ha. Again, it's not even just iTunes; it's the entire drive. The clincher is that when I check my disk space it still shows the same as if all the files are still on there. I just cannot find them. And, no, it's not even a matter of things being "hidden" or in Safe Mode or anything.

I even connected to the drive to my PC inside to check for bad sectors using CHKDSK & absolutely nothing changed. Last time that's what saved me . . . I really think the files are still on there. I'm just clueless as to how I can save them--esp. the iTunes files!

. . . {cries} Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!!

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Hello, hopefully your external drive wasn't one of those "accidental USB disconnections." That could do a number on your drive in a heartbeat. If the drive still mounts, have you tried using Disk Utility to repair the drive and permissions and, or DiskWarrior?

Okay, looks like I'll have to play the "I'm new to this site" card sooner than I thought . . .

First off, thank you SO MUCH for replying to my comment!! Secondly, I don't know what it means if a drive mounts, where Disk Utility is, or how reputable DiskWarrior is.

The hard drive still easily connects & reads, if that's what you mean by "mounts." I found Disk Utility, but I'm unsure how to use it. I fear that if I do the wrong thing on it it can delete my partition or render the drive ever-so-slightly that my files are OFFICIALLY lost forever. Any advice on what to do with that? . . . And what's Disk Warrior? -ha-

Sorry to be a "newbie" in regards to stuff like this, but I'm ultra paranoid & want to make sure I'm doing this right step by step. There's way too much at stake to guess. IM me if you'd care to.

Thanks again!

O.K. With your external drive connected to your Mac, open the Disk Utility application. Locate the name of your external drive on the left side of Disk Utility's window and click on it. Next, click on the First Aid tab (if it isn't highlighted already) then click on the Repair Permissions button at the bottom left of the window. When this is done, proceed by clicking the Verify/Repair Disk buttons.

Thanks! I'll try it right now & keep my fingers crosses that it all goes right! Your avatar makes me nervous, butT I'm desperate so I'll try it. -ha- Thanks again; I'll let you know how it goes.

Actually "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair Disk Permissions" are inselectable. Should I just do "Verify Disk" or "Repair Disk" on the bottom right, then?

How is your drive formatted? Is it a FAT32? If so, yes, click on the Repair Disk button.

Yeah, it is. I hear NTSC wouldn't work on a Mac so I changed it back from NTSC to FAT32 about a year ago so I can access my drive completely . . . and sure enough. 8'(

Yeah, it says "Used: 306.53 GB (306,530,123,776 Bytes)" but only a few kB are available. I know for a fact those files are definitely there someway/somehow.

Actually, Mac OS Extended Journaled would have been better for a Mac. Anyway, feel free to click the Repair Disk button and we'll take it from there.